Libation is the tradition of pouring some drink, usually alcoholic, on the ground as a sort of offering, perhaps as part of a Grave-Marking Scene. Sometimes for the gods, sometimes to the dead. This trope is mostly about doing it in memory of dead friends. Traditionally, one pours on the ground before drinking oneself. Will often involve Talking to the Dead as well. May be regarded as Due to the Dead.

In the modern era, this is usually associated with the hip-hop subculture, where this is called "tipping" or "pouring one out". Commonly done with a 40 oz Malt Liquor. However, this is actually a very ancient practice in some parts of the world.

Can be done with food or some other type of offerings, such as tobacco or sweets as well, but less often, despite "libation" meaning "drink".

Does not include putting flowers on a grave or making offerings to gods.

Trigun: Vash pours a bottle of alcohol over one of the lightbulb shaped power plants. Turns out these are powered by angel-like beings, of which Vash is one.

Seijuro Hiko does this in Rurouni Kenshin. More exactly, he pours sake on the graves that child!Kenshin dug for three slave girls he had befriended, who were cruelly slaughtered by bandits (who were immediately thereafter killed by Hiko himself).

Roybea Roy from After War Gundam X is shown pouring wine on the tombstone of his first love, the woman who gave him his Gundam

Cowboy Bebop manages to make this trope creepy in "Black Dog Serenade". When one villain offers an assassin a bottle of champagne to celebrate their takeover of the prison ship, the assassin pours the champagne into the mouth of a dead guard while offering a toast to the devil.

Kazemakase Tsukikage Ran: Ran insists that a new sake brewer's first batch goes to the master that died teaching him, just after burying the guy. She is a Hard-Drinking Party Girl, by the way, that should tell you how highly she regards this trope.

Reinhard von Lohengramm in Legend of Galactic Heroes poured a glass of white wine onto the glass windows in the Alliance National Museum of Art which he appropriated as his headquarters after he conquered the Alliance against the setting sun as a sign of respect to those who have died due to the war.

In Mushoku Tensei Rudeus takes a bottle of strong liquor with him to Paul's grave and alternates between sipping it and pouring it on the grave while confessing his insecurities.

Ravages Of Time - The Seventh Genius Zhuge Liang dumps a drink offered to him by Sima Yi, citing this trope as the reason.

In The Seven Deadly Sins, after Ban's adoptive father Zhivago peacefully passed away from old age, Ban and Jericho buried him and then Ban poured beer on the tombstone.

Comic Books

Jonah pours one for his father after watching him die in Jonah Hex #69.

Bucky Barnes was part of the Young Allies during World War II, who established a tontine with a bottle of liquor that would go to the last survivor. Bucky was cryogenically suspended for most of the post-war years, meaning he would easily outlive them all, so he tracked down the last two survivors to share the bottle with them. When they pass away afterwards, Bucky pours out the rest of the bottle over a memorial to the Young Allies.

Fan Works

In We Are All Pokémon Trainers, Jason visits his father's grave in Fall City, Fiore on Father's Day during the Hoenn-2 arc and pours a sour bourbon mix on and around the tombstone after taking a swig himself.

Film

In The Gridiron Gang, Willie and Kelvin are members of rival gangs. After football practice, Kelvin asks Willie if he'd like a bottle of water, but before Willie can grab it, he pours it onto the ground, stating "my dead homies drink before you do."

In Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Agent Ramirez, an FBI agent, does this for his partner Archuleta after Agent Sands, the corrupt CIA agent and one of the other protagonists, tells him about how Dr. Guevara tortured him to death.

Martin empties a fifth of whiskey on his father's grave when he visits it in Grosse Pointe Blank. It's a rather bitter version of this trope, though, as it's implied his father was an alcoholic. He pours out the whiskey, drops the bottle on the grave and leaves.

In Amazing Grace, one of the main characters, after winning a huge victory for anti-slavery, pours alcohol into (freed slave and emancipation activist) Equiano's grave, with the bittersweet line, "I know you don't normally drink, but this is a special occasion".

Cooley High: One of the main character starts to pour his beer out. When one of his friends protests, he says it's for "the homies that ain't here."

In Ned, a parody of the Ned Kelly story, the villain (a British governor) takes a sip of tea and does the same as Dr Evil. It's a weird movie.

In Boyz n the Hood, Doughboy pours out a little of his drink on the curb for his dead brother before it's revealed that Doughboy himself is murdered not long after.

In King Arthur, Bors pours out a measure of wine on the grave of his dead friend Dagonet. His intent is clear as sits down beside the grave marker and encourages his friend to "Drink... [let's] get drunk" before taking a hefty swig himself as his fellow knights depart.

In Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen, when Donnie Yen's character is reminiscing about fallen comrades with other people, they pour out their drinks onto the ground.

In Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Eddie is about to down a small bottle of whiskey before taking the Toontown Tunnel for the first time since his brother Teddy was killed (in Toontown). However, in a combination of this and No More for Me (both signs he's taking this case seriously), he pours out the bottle undrunk before throwing it into the air, shooting it with his Toon Gun, and then continuing on towards Toontown.

Literature

The Gentlemen Bastards have a similar custom of "a glass poured to air" for absent or dead friends.

In Dune, Duke Leto Atreides makes the toast "Review, friends - troops long past review" by pouring out a flagon of water onto the floor (note that water is worth its weight in gold on the desert planet of Arrakis).

In Looking for Alaska, Pudge drops a cigarette in the creek after Alaska's death. The Colonel, Takumi and Lara follow suit.

There's an interesting variant in the Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City. Anna Madrigal is in the habit of taping a joint to the door of her tenants as a welcoming present. In the last chapter, she visits the grave of her former lover, and tapes a joint to his tombstone with the words: "Enjoy it. It's Columbian."

Odysseus pours a libation for Hades and Persephone when he goes to the edge of the underworld. The spirits of the dead appear to try to drink it, and per Circe's instructions, he stands guard over it until the spirit of Tiresias appears and drinks first. Tiresias advises Odysseus on how to return to Ithaca, and other spirits (including his own mother, who died from grief) speak to him before the crowd of dead becomes too large, and Odysseus with his men flees back to the ship.

In the Discworld novel Reaper Man, Mrs. Cake literally does this with a glass of liquor for her spirit guide 'One-Man-Bucket'. Thus he gets the ghost of the drink, after she kills it by setting it on fire.

This is the common practice in the world of Harry Turtledove 's Between the Rivers. In that world, ancestor spirits can talk to their grandchildren on a daily basis, so that the ghosts can just ask their people to pour a little beer on the ground for them, and express thanks when they get it.

In the Supernatural episode Bad Day at Black Rock, a Mook pours beer on the floor of his apartment to mourn a fallen friend.

Also again, in the season six episode ...And Then There Were None, Bobby Singer pours out a bottle of Johnny Walker Blue onto his friend and old hunting partner's grave.

Accidentally done in the Stargate SG-1 episode "Fire and Water." Daniel has died (for the first of many times in the series) and at his wake, Jack accidentally spills some beer on the floor while having a flashback of his death. Unknown whether this was intentional on the writers' part or not.

In the Scrubs episode My Friend With Money, JD and Turk are reminiscing about a college friend who died from alcohol poisoning and pour some of their coffee out in his memory.

An episode of Martin had Martin and his friends stranded in his apartment and they have to ration their water. Coal tips out a bit saying "For brothers who ain't here." Martin tells him if he does it again. "you'll be a brother who ain't here!"

Subverted in German Soap OperaAnna und die Liebe. The villain Gerrit Broda goes to the cemetery and talks in front of his fathers grave how he was never loved by him and how he always favoured his brother. He proceeds to "plant" (stomp) a flower pot into the ground and "water" (throw a bottle of vodka on) it.

In the last episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Martok wants to share a toast with Captain Sisko and Admiral Ross when the Dominion War is won after a particularly bloody battle. Sisko and Ross pour their drinks onto the ground instead, as both libation and protest.

Martok: "Before you waste too many tears, remember, these are Cardassians lying dead at your feet. Bajorans would call this 'poetic justice'."

Sisko: "That doesn't mean I have to drink a toast over their bodies."

Stephen Colbert commemorated the end of the Space Shuttle by pouring out some Tang onto his desk.

Man v. Food has Adam pouring marinara sauce after his partner in a competition vomits outside, thus forfeiting the challenge.

A Flashback episode of Suits cuts back occasionally to a minor subplot about present-day Harvey, who's taken a day off work for some unexplained reason, taking a train journey and buying a bottle of whiskey. In the course of the flashback plot, his father dies. At the end of the episode, we see him sharing the whiskey with his dad's tombstone.

Variation in The Pacific: Basilone and J.P. share a drink at a bar in Melbourne after the 1st Marine Division pulls out of Guadalcanal. They order a third drink for their friend, who was killed in the same action where Basilone earned his Medal of Honor, and leave it on the table for him. When a Jerk Ass Aussie soldier fed up with the wild antics of the relaxing Marines tries to drink it, Basilone takes exception.

In The Following: After Joe Carroll's execution, a despondent Ryan Hardy orders two drinks at the bar, one for himself and one for Joe's ghost.

Music

The music video of "The End of the Road" by Boyz II Men.

Also in the music video for "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday".

"Six Feet Deep" by Geto Boys.

Lupe Fiasco's The Cool, the titular character comes Back from the Dead, and Although he: "Smelled the Hennesy from when his niggas got reminded and poured out liquor in his memory...He couldn't sip it fast enough, so the liquor was just fillin' the casket up."

The traditonal Irish folk song "Finnegan's Wake" has a variation: Tim Finnegan, known as The Alcoholic in life, is brought Back from the Dead when a drunken reveler at his funeral wake accidentally pours whiskey on his corpse. The reason for this variation is that the term "whiskey" comes from the Gaelic Uisce beatha, literally meaning "water of life." Finnegan got revived when he got doused with "water of life."

In the Dropkick Murphys song "Jimmy Collins Wake" a libation is poured for the titular former Red Sox manager.

Professional Wrestling

The episode of Raw that followed Owen Hart's death, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin came down to the ring with two cans of beer. Saluting with one, he left the other in the centre of the ring "for Owen".

Tabletop RPG

The opening fiction from Geist: The Sin-Eaters is called "Rum is the Drink the Dead Like Best," for good reason. Likewise, the game mentions that Sin-Eaters often make use of ofrendas, gifts to the dead - usually booze, but can include cigars, candy, or hell money - to gain the trust of ghosts.

Jokes

A man walks into a bar and orders three shots of whiskey, which he drinks all at once. The next day, he comes back and orders three more shots, and he keeps making the same order ever day. He becomes friends with the bartender, who eventually asks the man about the shots. The man tells him "me and my two brothers were close, but had to move apart for work, so we buy each others' shots to help remember each other". After a few years, the man comes in and orders two shots of whisky. The bartender says "did something happen?!", the man answers "oh, my brothers are fine, I quit drinking".

Swedish joke: Two alcoholic friends discuss their love of alcohol.

Drunkard:"Oh, promise that when i die, you'll pour whiskey all over my grave"

Second drunkard:'"I'm just gonna let it pass through my kidneys first."

Theatre

Clytemnestra sends libations and gifts to Agamemnon's grave in bad faith in Electra, but Electra persuades Chrysothemis not to take them and so dishonour their father.

Electra and her servants deliver offerings to Agamemnon's grave in the second part of the Oresteia trilogy, appropriately titled The Libation Bearers.

In Heathers, Heather Duke and Heather Mc Namara, accompanied by Kurt and Ram, go out to the cemetery to pour a jug of Thunderbird over the grave of the recently deceased Heather Chandler, "y'know, from her homies," but Kurt and Ram end up drinking the booze instead.

Video Games

Tech Romancer does this in the Wiseduck story mode if you chose the ending where the crew decided that they were human and lay the beatdown on the enemy. Ten years later after the war, Alvin is the lone survivor and gives a libation to his now deceased crew.

Comes up when you drink an ice cold fotie in Kingdom of Loathing, after first pouring out some for your homies in the Pasta 'Lean.

Tilting a fotie in the Ancient Hobo Burial Grounds wakens the angry dead — angry about the wasted booze.

One sidequest in Chrono Trigger requires you to pour sake on the traveller Toma's grave. This was changed to pop in the US release, and reverted in the re-translated DS version. Whatever the alcoholic content of the drink, though, pouring it on the grave reveals the location of the Giant's Claw, the dungeon that the treasure-hunting Toma had been seeking.

In Super Robot Wars Original Generation 2, Sean Webley does this at the funeral of Daitetsu Minase, this is extra effective as a scene since they have been putting off having a celebratory drink together for the entire game as each new crisis interrupts them.

In Wang Jinrei's Tekken 2 ending, Jinrei is seen emptying a bottle of sake on the grave of his long-deceased friend, Jinpachi Mishima, who would be revived as a monster against his will more than twenty years later.

Done in one of the Bad Endings of the Code GeassDating SimLost Colors. If Rai joins the Black Knights and dies in battle, Todou offers his respects by drinking sake in front of the guy's grave.

This is how you revive homies in Saints Row 1 & 2. You pour a 40 oz. on them, and they spring back to life. Quite humourous on homies who are on fire.

Dig 'Em Frog (of Honey Smacks fame) pours out a libation in honor of Cap'n Crunch at his funeral in Breakfast of the Gods.

Doctor McNinja drops a slice of pizza in honor of Chuck Goodrich, who sacrificed himself to close the time portal under Cumberland for good, foiling King Radical's plans. The rest of the crowd, moved by the gesture, starts to drop their slices as well. Doc freaks out because they're dropping golden cockatrice sausage pizza, which is really expensive.

"How much do you think a dead man can eat?!"

Tower of God: Baam and his friends pour wine to honor their dead comrade Ho.

Parodied at the end of the Strong Bad Email "video games", though because Strong Bad thought the writer was in prison (as he misinterpreted the "AZ" in the signature as "Alcatraz").

Strong Bad: Until next time, this one's for you, Taylor, and all my peoples got sent up the river. (pours out a Cold One)

And again in the Strong Bad Email "retirement", when Homestar pours out a bottle of Mountain Dew for the Tandy 400 (after pouring it into the Tandy 400 along with some fizzy denture tablets, causing it to explode in a green, rectangular mushroom cloud).

Episode fourteen of RWBY Chibi's second season has a segment called "Inner Lives of Beowolves" featuring a pair of Grimm discussing a friend who got dusted by "that blonde with the awful puns" while on a coffee break. As soon as they pour the coffee in the cups they promptly pour it into the ground as a farewell.

Western Animation

Parodied in The Simpsons, when the family goes to Florida during spring break. Kid Rock at a concert has a large novelty bottle of beer - a 40 gallon bottle - which he pours to the memory of "friends not with us... back at home", and Homer tries to drink from it.

In a The Buzz on Maggie episode, the other bugs pour some juice on the ground before a field trip in honor of Maggie, who has accepted a detention so the rest of the class can get their excursion.

In Gravity Falls, Dipper does this when his photocopied duplicate Tyrone drinks a soda, accidentally killing himself.

Inverted when the cast of Regular Show pours soda on their cart when they are about to send it to the junk yard, then the cart suddenly comes back to life because of the soda.

A subversion used to exist amongst sailors in the Mediterranean, back when people had all sorts of superstitions about what was in/on/near the ocean. To protect them from mermaids (who, in most myths, lean decidedly towards Tsundere or even outright Yandere), they would pour a glass of wine into the water, hoping to please any mermaids (and thus protect the sailors themselves from disaster.)

Ceremonies in the Voodoo tradition typically involve pouring out libations of rum for the spirits of the dead, especially if guidance from or communion with said spirits is the objective.

The ancient Greeks poured libations to the gods and to their dead, and the practice is mentioned by their earliest writers.

Which has a consequence to this day. Orthodox Judaism has elaborate rules for when wine is or is not kosher, largely due to this practice—in the ancient Mediterranean, a Jew had to assume that any wine he saw had been used for a pagan libation (and thus, non-kosher), unless it had been under the control of Jews the whole time. If a Greek poured himself a cup of wine, he was extremely likely to spill a drop for the gods.

The Ancient Egyptians poured libations to the dead, or at least to dead kings, since Old Kingdom times.

According to Douglas Peacock, author and environmentalist Edward Abbey was buried in the Arizona desert with (at his request) no coffin, an old sleeping bag for a shroud, and a funeral libation of whiskey poured over his grave.

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